Shadowchasers: Seven Wonders
by superedfan
Summary: Veena City...never heard of it. Not surprised. It's not really within the Public Eye. A certain Shadow, which they didn't know exist, is about to change everything. And its up to a rookie and her mismatched team to put a stop to this force. Nina learns that her new team's leader is laid-back yet shocking. Recycling Batteries has been added. ON RECONSTRUCTION & IMPROVEMENT HIATUS!
1. Primordial Soup

**Edit: This chapter has been updated with some of the mistakes fixed.**

Good Morning/Night to all! For those of you who are wondering, this is a part of the Shadowchaser's universe. Being interested in the storyline and concept behind the Shadowchasers, I asked and woven and plotted a plot and luckily, I've been given an 'okay' by the creator of Shadowchasers, Cyber Commander. First of all, thank you for allowing me to write this story.

Now to the story, which assumes you know the basics about the original Shadowchasers lore and terminology. This story will use the 2012 March Ban List. Due to the fact that XYZ monsters have not appeared in that banlist, I may not use some of them due to either anime restrictions or for personal reasons. For example, no Numbers will be played in this fanfic, but may be mentioned.

Similarly, there are some cards that won't be used much. For example, cards like Lightning Vortex, Call of the Haunted etc. And please be aware that I am not perfect, but I try to be almost as close as possible, so any constructive criticism would be helpful.

Also, _words in Italics like this_, indicates that what is Italicized is said in Spanish.

Now that that is settled, we can begin. Let's kick-start this story!

_I am never saying that again…_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of the cards. I also do not own the Shadowchasers theme/mythos this story is based on. **_

**0000000**

_**Shadowchasers, Seven Wonders**_

_**By Superedfan**_

**0000000**

**You know, I've never had much of a back story to begin with. **

**Hi, my name is Nina Suarez. Like I said previously. I never had much of a backstory. My mom had moved from Mexico into the U.S. She had gotten a Legal Citizenship, somehow, and met my dad. It was like a missing puzzle piece. They got married and moved to San Francisco. Enter me and that's basically it.  
**

**I grew up with my parents, who were as happy as they could be. I loved history and when I was twelve, my Dad got me my first deck, an Evol Deck. My life was perfect. However, something was wrong with my mother's citizenship. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened next, but my mom was sent back to Mexico. My dad tried to follow her, so he left, promising me he'd comeback. Never heard from him since.  
**

**I was fourteen then, on the brink of starvation, when I met the Shadowchasers. Through constant badgering, I accidentally stumbled upon them in a Fair Fight Duel. And without a clue, I decided to show my worth as a Duelist and stood in place. And I did not move nor declined, and then Dueled my first Shadow.  
**

**Since then, I've been training with the Shadowchasers for about a year now. Unlike the famous Ember in New Domino, I never faced a group of powerful enemies while I was being trained as an apprentice. I had a pretty normal apprenticeship. Of course I've had my fare share of emergencies, but none that were world threatening. **

**This one was kind of something to that scale to me.  
**

**It was my Rite of Passage. I decided to go with a hunch that the group has been having for a few months. They called themselves the Hands of Shadow. They moved in single droves, fulfilling their objectives. I'm not exactly sure as to what they're purpose is or why, but whatever it is, it's big. **

**What they were know for, or at least what the rumors say, is that they were the ones who caused some of the most deadly accidents in human history. One of the the more famous ones that I hear is that they were the ones who caused 9/11, but it was just rumors, so it may or may not be true.  
**

**I managed to get some info out of one of their weaker members. He gave me a location and a species. So now I was on the hunt.  
**

**I wasn't some special person fated for a divine encounter; I wasn't some Duelist with a mysterious background or rich from birth. I'm not perfect (although, most of us aren't anyway). I was just me, a normal Aware who was just about to complete her Rite of Passage.**

**0000000**

He quickly twisted a few bolts with the screwdriver in his hand and double checked to make sure that all of the preparations were complete. He smiled as he carefully attached the device to the harnesses, then he attached it to himself. He waited for a few moments, until the red light on it turned green. It was armed and ready.

To any normal person who looked at him right now. He would be a grown man, with a bit of muscle, with a device attached to his chest. He would be sitting on a horse and wearing normal riding clothes. Except for the device on his chest, everything seemed to be normal about him.

"Yes. It's ready, let the Hands decide."

His horse trotted over to the garage door, cautious not to throw off his rider. The man pulled out a remote from the clip next to the garage and pressed a button. The metal door rose slowly, with each passing second increasing the man's tension with each passing second. When it finally finished, he looked out, only to find something he'd never expect.

It was a teenage girl, no older than fifteen. Her tan skin and brown hair seemed to have resonated with the sunlight that was shining from the setting sun. She wore a standard Duel Disk on her left wrist, filled with cards in the deck slot. She seemed to have a noticeable bit of Latino in her. She smiled as the man looked in shock. Her voice had a tiny hint of a Spanish Accent.

"Shadowchasers! You are under arrest!"

The horse galloped out of the garage immediately, nearly trampling the poor girl who was fortunate to duck as a reflex. She ran quickly towards the parked red Duel Runner outside of a nearby by building. '_Okay, suspect running away from the area with strange device on self. I think that calls for a chase._' She quickly jumped in the seat and fired up the engine. She turned the Runner around and raced towards the fleeing man on his horse. She, and any Aware, could truly see what he was.

The man retained the top of his human half, but the bottom half of the horse had somehow 'merged' with the Human top half of the man. He galloped down an alleyway and knocked over a few trashcans with his "tail". The girl had managed to avoid them by expertly maneuvering through the piles of garbage, despite being in a small space. She followed him for a few minutes, until they came to another street. She had managed to match his speed on her Runner.

"I know you're a Centaur and you can run faster than a regular horse, but do you think you can outrun a machine?" She mocked.

You've heard right, a Centaur. A mythological fusion of a Horse and a Human, like those heard of in Greek Mythology. The Centaur just glared at the girl and tried to run faster, but the Duel Runner just kept up its pace.

"You're persistent."

"_Thank you_." The girl replied. "That still won't stop me from catching you."

"You cannot stop our purpose. The Hands of Shadow will not stop until all Humans are eradicated. We shadows shall be the dominant species on this planet! And we shall start by sending a big message to you humans." The Centaur proclaimed. He tried to ram into the Duel Runner next to him, but the girl moved out of the way.

"Look! While you may have your reasons…as deranged as they may be…" The girl started. "Don't you realize that you are potentially endangering the very Shadows you are trying to bring to order! If you can just diffuse the bomb on your chest…"

"No! You cannot interfere. The Hands of Shadow will never co-operate with the Shadowchasers. "By my hand and mine alone, the strong shall rise!" The motto of the Hands of Shadow, and as long as I live, I will never disobey that motto!"

The Centaur looked at her face, and noticed something.

"Hey, you have no mark! So that means you're… fresh meat." The girl scowled in disgust due to that comment. "Well then, how about we have a little wager then? You must know the rules of The Treaty now right? So we will duel. If I win, you shall let me proceed to my destination without interference." He proposed.

"Where?"

The Centaur laughed and smirked, showing his shiny white teeth.

"No spoilers."

"And if I win, you will stop and I will arrest you on the spot. Well a teammate anyway, but you get the idea." The girl said. "Your name is…?"

"Guars." He replied. "And yours?"

"Nina. Nina Suarez." Nina replied with a smirk on her face.

Guars simply took a duel disk that was connected to his horse back and strapped it on. He then took one spell card from a slot near the Extra Deck and placed it in the Field Spell slot. A voice said "Speed World 2 activated." Nina pressed a button on her Duel Runner, and a voice also hummed "Speed World 2 activated." A purple wave of energy emanated from both of the Duel Disk, giving everything a Purple hue.

"I thought that Speed World and Speed World 2 were only digital?" Nina asked.

"Not unless you know a Shadow Jacker." Guars replied. Because they are some Shadows like Guars who cannot ride a Duel Runner, if you have connections, you can obtain a card that works just like Speed World 2. They both raced down the street, drawing five cards in the process.

"Let's Duel!"

**(Nina: 8000) (Guars: 8000)**

"I'll start first Apprentice!" Guars said as he drew his sixth card. A glowing dot appeared on his Duel Disk, indicating that he gained a Speed Counter. Similarly, Nina increased her speed as well. He thought for a moment.

**(Nina SPC: 1) (Guars SPC: 1)**

"I set one monster and one card on the field. Then I end my turn." Two brown card backings, one vertical and one horizontal, appeared for a few seconds. They then disappeared, but still were visible on the screen of Nina's Duel Runner.

"Then it's my turn." Nina said as she drew, her runner clicking in response to her gain in Speed Counters. '_Okay, no pressure Nina, you know what to do._' Nina, while she didn't show it, was nervous about how she was going to handle this. When she faced the local Duelists at home, there are no consequences for losing. This wasn't the case here.

**(Nina SPC: 2) (Guars SPC: 2)**

"First, I normal summon Evoltile Odonto (**500 ATK**/1200 DEF)!"

A mini DNA strand appeared for a few seconds, before a Reptile materialized on Nina's field. It had an orange and purple color scheme, but had a rock like underbelly. It's eyes were pupil less and had a black outline around them. It seemed to be a turtle. It roared cutely and floated alongside Nina.

"Evol monsters. And I'm guessing that the 'tile' in Evoltile refers to Reptiles, right? And the Evol stands for Evolution?" Guars asked in a loud voice over the roaring wind whipping around them.

"Correct on both accounts. And this one is based off the Odontochelys." Nina explained. "But we'll get to that at a later date, when I visit you in your cell. Now the effect of Odonto activates."

"And by being based off of Evolution…" He mused.

Nina smirked. "You've got the idea. Now I can special summon one Evolsaur monster from my hand! I special summon Evolsaur Cerato (**1900 ATK**/1400 DEF)."

A bigger and more complex Double Helix DNA strand appeared, before the monster was summoned onto Nina's field. It was a bipedal miniature Dinosaur which was colored orange, with dark brown scales covering the top of its body. A pair of orange wings was growing from the sides of the monster. A DNA strand pattern was shown in its tail. It roared, which was a bit more ferocious than Odonto's growl, and it ran alongside Nina's Duel Runner with Odonto.

"Great, what type is this one?" Guars asked with mock-enthusiasm.

"A Ceratosaurus. Anyway, this card gains an effect! When it is Special Summoned by the effect of an Evoltile monster, it gains two hundred more ATK!"

Cerato growled in pleasure as energy from Odonto seeped into him through his DNA tail. (**2100 ATK**/1400 DEF)

"Now I will attack you're face down card with Cerato."

Cerato rushed forward and struck the facedown monster. A red tiger engulfed in flames shattered after Cerato gave it an extremely strong head-butt.

"A Flame Tiger, why did you put that in defense mode? What good does that do?"

Guars laughed and said something, but Nina swerved when a truck came between the two Duelists. She got back on track and looked at Guars, who was smirking at her, which angered Nina.

"Since I destroyed one of your monsters with Cerato and it was special summoned due to the effect of an Evoltile monster, I can add one Evoltile monster from my deck." Nina explained, drawing one card in the process. She attacked with Odonto, but a swirling vortex deformed the colors in front of the attack and blocked her avenue of damage.

"Negate Attack. Like my monster, my secret is safe."

"Fine! Don't tell me, I set two cards facedown and call it a turn."

Guars nodded in response and reached for his graveyard.

"When Flame Tiger is in the Grave and I have no monsters on the field. I can special summon it instead of drawing." The same fiery tiger erupted from a burst of flame. It ran alongside in the same manner as Cerato did with Nina. (**1800 ATK**/200 DEF) Another glowing dot appeared on Guars Duel Disk and Nina sped up as well.

**(Nina SPC: 3) (Guars SPC: 3)**

Guars was running at the same speed as Nina, overtaking cars easily. He tried to duck and weave between them to mess her up, but she managed to avoid the cars altogether. He growled as he tried to kick her with his hind legs, but she stepped on the brakes just in time to dodge the blow.

"Hey! Trying to knock me out won't stop anything!" Nina shouted.

"Whatever, I attack Odonto with my Flame Tiger."

The Tiger rushed forward, leaving trails of fire on where it once stood.

"I activate the effect of my Trap Card! Evo-Instant!"

Nina's facedown card re-appeared, it bore the picture of a Dinosaur rising out of the skin of Evoltile Odonto. Odonto glowed for a few moments before it dispersed into little tiny pixels. But the pixels rearranged themselves, as it reformed into a DNA strand similar to Cerato.

"Now by offering one Reptile monster as tribute, I can special summon one Evolsaur monster from my deck. I special summon my Evolsaur Elias in Defense mode (100 ATK/ **2400 DEF**)."

The strand formed an orange dinosaur with spikes running over the back of the monster. It floated next to Nina as it turned a blue hue. The summon triggered a replay and Guars decided to call off the attack.

"Anyway, I'll set one monster and two cards facedown and end my turn."

Nina drew cautiously, what is it that he is planning? She felt a burst of speed as she surged forwards, with Guars keeping pace, yet finding a little difficulty.

**(Nina SPC: 4) (Guars SPC: 4)**

"I activate the effect of Speed Spell- Angel Baton! Now by removing four Speed Counters from Speed World 2, I can draw two cards, yet I have to discard one."

"A bit much for one or two cards, little miss."

'_Little miss?_' Nina pondered as she drew two cards, her runner slowing down a bit as the monitor displayed her reduction in Speed Counters. She then thought about it, and discarded on card from her hand.

**(Nina SPC: 0) (Guars SPC: 4)**

"Now I normal summon my Evolsaur Diplo (**1600 ATK**/800 DEF)."

A DNA strand similar to Cerato appeared, forming a purple dinosaur with a long neck and a big body. Two wings were forming at the sides of it, and it's tail was colored like a DNA strand. It roared and ran with Cerato.

"Now it's time." Nina started as she braced her Duel Runner. "I construct an Overlay Network with my Level four Cerato and my Level Four Diplo…"

The two monsters were reduced to two glowing balls of energy, which flew towards the middle of Nina's field. A red portal had opened and they both went inside the portal. Nina dodged a car and continued the summon. Two DNA strands burst out of the portal and reached for the sky, then they intertwined. They continued until a new, more complex strand had formed.

"DNA synching complete! I XYZ summon my Rank Four Evolkaiser Lagia (**2400 ATK**/2000 DEF)in attack mode."

The strand glowed until a loud roar was heard. Soon a giant white mass had flown out of the hole. It's scales were nothing but white and it was flying with six wings. Its eyes and its mouth were both red, as with some lines on its body. A flame spiral surrounded it, as two orbs of light similar to the ones before rotated around it.

"Now I can attack that facedown monster with Lagia! DNA stream!"

A loud roar erupted from nowhere and the monsters were stuck in their tracks. Guars smirked as the card was activated.

"Threatening Roar can keep your monsters at bay. What can you do now?"

"I activate the effect of Evolkaiser Lagia! Now by giving up all of its XYZ Materials, I can negate the activation of one card on the field, like your Threatening Roar! Go, Gene-Splicing!"

The two orbs fused into Lagia as its lines started to glow a vibrant red. Guars winced as Lagia shot two red DNA strands that obliterated the trap card. The monster proceeded and destroyed the facedown monster, destroying it within seconds. A mouse with a key briefly appeared before shattering into millions of pixels.

"That was Key Mouse, and when you destroy it, I can search and add one Level 3 or lower Beast monster from my hand. And while I'm at it, I can activate the effect of one of the most well known Beast monsters out there by paying 1000 lifepoints."

**(Nina: 8000) (Guars: 7000)**

A loud bellowing was heard, as a giant green monkey jumped from one of the buildings King Kong style and ran on the field. It carried a giant log in one of its giant hands. (**2600 ATK**/1800 DEF) Nina sighed as the monster's name appeared on her monitor.

"_Green Baboon, seriously? Isn't that a bit of an overkill_?" She asked rapidly. Guars looked at her in confusion. Nina realized her mistake and translated the sentence into English.

Guars shrugged. "It works." He said as he added one card to his hand from his deck due to Key Mouse.

Nina set one card facedown. Guars drew as another dot appeared on his Duel Disk. He was soon near to his destination as he swerved around another car. It was time to start dealing some damage.

**(Nina SPC: 1) (Guars SPC: 5)**

"I normal summon the card that I received with Key Mouse, I summon Moja."

In an instant, a small tiny bean shaped monster appeared.

"Aww, how cute. It has some powerful effect, doesn't it?" Nina knew not to underestimate small Duel Monsters, like that Ryko monster…

"Now I tribute Moja, in order to summon something more… powerful."

Moja looked cutely at Nina, until a part of it was bulging out. Then another, and then another, until it seemed like something was moving inside of it. A yellow decayed skull suddenly burst out of Moja, followed by its black furred body, its height seven times taller than the little Monster. Three yellow skeletal legs burst out of the little monster. When it was finished, none of the little monster remained. (**2500 ATK**/800 DEF)

"See, I told you. Little cute monsters aren't so cute when you know their secrets." Nina said solemnly as she stared at the behemoth that burst out of the cute monster that was there.

"Like some Shadowkind, this card has more power when its true power is released. King of the Beast can be special summoned by tributing one face-up Moja on the field! If you can XYZ Summon, then why can't I? I construct an overlay unit with my Level 7 Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest and my Level 7 King of the Beast to XYZ Summon! Roar! Become heralds to The Supreme Beast King: Kong! (**3000 ATK**/ 2000 DEF)"

Green Baboon and King of the Beast bellowed in response, as they both turned into orbs of Light, which flew into an Orange portal. Another loud, more ferocious growl was heard as a brown beast rose from the portal. A large brown Gorilla jumped out of the portal; it was covered with golden armor that sparked with electricity. Its fierce red eyes pierced into Nina's soul, as it bellowed again.

"_That thing's huge! I've never seen that card before_!" Nina exclaimed. Guars was confused by the rapid burst of Spanish.

"I'm not sure what you just said, but I take it your surprised. This is Beast King: Kong. Like how you have your Dragonprince Jalal, we, The Hand of Shadow, have our own special cards. I know, now I can attack your Evolkaiser Lagia. Fist of the Beast King! But before do, I activate the effect of Howl of the Wild! Now when your monster is destroyed, you are dealt 300 points of damage for each Beast I own."

Kong bellowed again, as its fist generated electricity. He rushed forward and punched Lagia, instantly destroying the Dragon in a matter of seconds. Nina growled under her breath as her favorite monster was destroyed. Guars smiled.

**(Nina: 7400) (Guars: 7000)**

Beast King: Kong bellowed again, as the shockwaves hit Nina dead on. Nina would have been hit with a deafening roar if not for her helmet. She swerved for a bit and was grateful that she installed sound proof padding in her helmet a few days before.

**(Nina: 7100) (Guars: 7000)**

"Since my monster attacked, at the end of my Battle Phase, I have to place it into defense mode. And if it's in defense mode, it is destroyed." Guars explained. "But if I detach one XYZ material, I can bypass that effect for this turn." Beast King: Kong grabbed one of his XYZ materials and proceeded to eat it in a voracious manner. He was instantly recharged as the electricity surrounding his armor was renewed with new vigor.

"How…charming…" Nina absent-mindedly said.

"Indeed. I end."

Nina silently drew as their Speed Counters increased.

**(Nina SPC: 2) (Guars SPC: 6)**

She had nothing to play, so she passed. Guars immediately started.

**(Nina SPC: 3) (Guars SPC: 7)**

"_Well, at least my lifepoints are safe._" Nina said to herself in Spanish. Guars saw her talking to herself.

"I don't know what you said, but I think you think your safe from harm. I forgot to mention my monster has piercing."

"_It has WHAT?!_"

Nina cringed as Kong struck Elias, killing the Pterodactyl like monster in an instant. Electricity surged from Kong's armor and struck Nina's Duel Runner. She freaked out as her Runner was malfunctioning, finding it difficult to turn or swerve, and her brakes didn't work. She was freaking out when she found she was driving into a truck. By some divine coincidence, it turned back on and she narrowly dodged the truck.

**(Nina: 6600) (Guars: 7000)**

"Don't forget Howl of the Wild."

**(Nina: 6300) (Guars: 7000)**

Kong again ate one of his XYZ materials and was recharged. Guars set one card facedown and ended. Nina drew as she calculated her odds of getting out of this situation. The card she drew wasn't the one she needed, but would help.

**(Nina SPC: 4) (Guars SPC: 8)**

"I set one facedown card and one monster and end."

Guars drew and their Speed Counters increased. He instantly summoned a purple baboon that was eating a yellowish orb, or a Soul, Bazoo the Soul Eater (**1600 ATK**/900 DEF).

"I attack your facedown with my Beast King!"

Kong held both of his hands above his head and smashed the facedown into pieces, electricity rushing towards Nina as she held onto her handles. She quickly remembered her destroyed monster's effect.

**(Nina: 5200) (Guars: 7000)**

"I activate the effect of Evoltile Westlo; now I can special summon one Evolsaur monster from my deck. And there's only one I want…"

She quickly took the card from her deck and placed it onto the playing field. A giant DNA strand had appeared, like the others, and a giant purple quad-legged dinosaur with a long neck appeared. It suddenly leaned over to the other side of the field and ate one of Guars' cards, specifically Howl of the Wild.

"When this card is special summoned by the effect of an Evoltile monster, I can destroy one Spell or Trap card on the field. And what I chose was obvious." Nina explained. Guars growled in response. "Are you going to suicide with my Diplo (**1600 ATK**)?"

After Guars didn't respond, Nina smirked.

"And now your Beast King is destroyed. One problem down, one more to go."

Guars laughed as the Beast King became tired. It struggled to stay awake, but it failed as the armor came off. He closed his eyes and dispersed into a million pixels. Guars quickly placed a card from his grave onto the field.

"And since Beast King was destroyed, by paying a 1000 lifepoints, you know who comes back from the grave."

**(Nina: 5200) (Guars: 6000)**

'_Oh great…_' Nina thought as Defender came back. The giant baboon was enraged and roared at her. She had gotten used to being yelled at and ignored it. She drew her card and analyzed the situation. She saw in the distance a certain bridge. Yes, the Golden Gate Bridge was coming into view in all its glory. Golden Gate… oh no!

"I don't know your plan, but I'll take a guess. It has something to do with the Golden Gate Bridge, right?" She asked. She had to grip the handles of the Duel Runner to keep her balance.

"Well well, good guess. But I'm not going to just spell out my plan just like that." Guars responded with sarcasm evident. "But I'll give you a hint. You see, this bomb is no ordinary bomb. This is not even a bomb." He paused so that Nina could regain her thoughts and try to understand.

"If it's not a bomb, then what is it?" She asked.

"It's a Trigger, My little Niña." She gasped.

"A trigger for what?" She asked.

"What do you think?" He responded. Nina pondered, dodging a few cars, before it clicked.

'_You don't have the bomb. The bomb's on the bridge!_' She thought. Guars laughed.

"By the look on your face, I assume you figured it out. When I reach the bridge, this handy device on my chest will release a signal due to the position of the bomb in relation to the trigger. Once that signal is released...well I wouldn't need to spoil that. We'll see soon enough, but it has something to do with the Ocean." He explained. Nina looked in fear. She quickly understood.

"_Idiot_! Do you know how many innocents are on that Bridge right now and could die?!"

"Yes!" Guars shouted back as he gained a hint of lunacy in his eyes. Nina was taken back. This shadow had gone stark mad, his mouth transformed into a deranged grin. She had to stop him right now.

"Look! I know you're a few fries short of a Happy Meal, but if we could just compromise-"

Guars' ever present laughter blocked her from his thoughts. He wasn't listening to her, already consumed with madness. She drew and looked at her hand. She formulated a plan.

"I pass."

**(Nina SPC: 5) (Guars SPC: 9)**

Guars was taken aback by this statement, but he had no qualms. He drew his card and immediately ordered Green Baboon to attack Evolsaur Diplo, but Nina activated a facedown Waboku to stop the attack. Guars growled in rage and ended his turn.

"Wait!" Nina shouted as she pressed buttons on her Runner's Console. "On the ending of your Main Phase 2, I activate the trap card XYZ Reborn! Now I can revive one XYZ monster in my grave and give this card as an XYZ material. I only have one."

In a burst of flames, Evolkaiser Lagia rose from the ground. It roared as the trap card behind it had morphed into an orb and floated around it.

"And now on your End Phase, I activate De-Evolution."

"What?!"

"Now I can select one Evolkaiser from my field. And if the two monsters used to XYZ Summon it are in the graveyard, I can remove from play the select card and special summon the ones in the grave, but I can't Special Summon for the rest of the turn." Nina explained, as that what exactly happened. Evolsaur Diplo and Cerato reappeared on the field. Guars looked in surprise, but quickly understood.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you back there. Not like it really mattered."

She ignored him. Nina drew and picked up a card, knowing what will happen next.

**(Nina SPC: 6) (Guars SPC: 10)**

"I construct an Overlay Network with my Level 4 Evolsaur Diplo and Cerato." Cerato and Diplo burst into DNA strands and merged just like before, making another complex DNA strand. "Syncing complete. I XYZ Summon my Evolkaiser Dolkka (**2300 ATK**/1700 DEF)"

The strand transformed into a dragon similar to Lagia, except that it had four wings and its color scheme was blue. It seemed to be less Dragonoid that Lagia as well. It roared as it flew alongside Nina. She pulled a card from her hand and played it onto the field.

"I activate the effect of Speed Spell- Speed Energy. Now by removing one of my Speed counters, I can increase my Dolkka's attack points by 200 for every Speed Counter I have left until the end of this turn!"

Dolkka's body glowed brightly with a sky blue aura, as it roared in delight. (**3300 ATK**) Meanwhile, Nina's runner fell behind a bit due to the loss of Speed Counters.

**(Nina SPC: 5) (Guars SPC: 10)**

"I attack Bazoo with my other Evolsaur Diplo!" Nina commanded.

The other Diplo that we haven't talked about recently reached across the field to bite Bazoo, but the Baboon had scratched back the Dinosaur, causing them both to explode into a shower of pixels. Guars scratched his head in confusion before Nina had ordered Evolkaiser Dolkka to attack Green Baboon. The dragon shot a blue colored DNA stream at the Baboon, who disbursed into millions of pixels.

**(Nina: 5200) (Guars: 5300)**

"You seem to have a short memory, little Niña. Technically, since it was a beast and it was destroyed, I can pay 1000 lifepoints to summon…"

"Yeah yeah. But I'm not as slow as you think! I activate the effect of Evolkaiser Dolkka. By giving up one XYZ material, I can negate the effect of Green Baboon from the Graveyard and destroy it. And-last time I checked- I can't destroy things in the graveyard, and Baboon can't use its effect on itself anyway, so you can't activate the effect of any other copies or cards like it in response!" Nina explained as she smirked. "And to think I got an F in Card Rulings at DA."

Guars roared. Nina just placed one card facedown as Dolkka reverted back to his normal ATK. Guars drew the card angrily as he quickly roared again. No Speed Spells to activate the effect of Speed World 2. He just passed. Nina drew another ordered Evolkaiser Dolkka to attack, damaging Guars for points.

**(Nina: 5200) (Guars: 3000)**

Guars drew and cursed his luck. Nothing that could change anything, yet it would help. He set a card.

Nina drew and immediately ordered Evolkaiser Lagia to attack. It went exactly like the last time, except Guars activated Half or Nothing, causing Dolkka's ATK to be halved. It was the end of Nina's turn. She had just activated the effect of Speed World 2 to burn Guars for 800 damage and had set one facedown card.

**(Nina: 5200) (Nina SPC: 2) (Guars: 1050) (Guars SPC: 12) **

"How! How can a little Niña best me?!" Guars said as he drew. Since he had reached twelve Speed Counters, he couldn't receive any more, but Nina still gained one. He looked at his hand and formed an idea.

"I activate my Speed Spell- Accelerator Draw. Now since I have 12 Speed Counters and you have less than 5, I can draw two more cards." Guars said as he drew two more cards from his deck. A smile crept upon his face.

"I normal summon another Key Mouse in ATK mode." Guars announced. Another Key mouse appeared.

"And now I activate the effect of Speed World 2!"

Nina grew scared. She knew exactly what card he was going to target. She just hope he wouldn't pull another strong card to combat her.

"I choose my Key Mouse."

"_What?_"

Nina looked surprised when he declared that. Guars smiled eerily as a bolt of lightning struck the Mouse from the Heavens. It shattered into a million pieces. Guars then took one card from the grave and placed it onto the field. Green Baboon, once again, returned to the field.

"That's kinda risky. With only 50 lifepoints left and all." Nina said as she looked at her Speed Counters. Not enough to activate the effect of Speed World 2.

"Not of your concern. Now I will activate my Speed Spell- Sonic Empathy. Now since we have the same amount of Speed Counters, we both draw equal to the amount of Speed Counters we have." Guars explained, both of them taking two cards from their decks. "Now the effect of my Egotistical Ape activates in my hand. Now my getting rid of my Blade Rabbit in my hand, I can special summon it and let it gain levels equal to the card used at step one. And since it was two…"

A giant blue ape had appeared, originating from a very cute and small monkey, and glowed it a strong blue aura as it grew two sizes bigger. Nina looked in despair. Guars smiled maliciously and constructed an Overlay Network, forming Beast King: Kong again. He attacked Dolkka, destroying him and taking away Nina's possible lead.

**(Nina: 4500) (Nina SPC: 2) (Guars: 50) (Guars SPC: 2)**

"Your move, Nina." He mocked. She silently drew a card, her speed counters rising. She had to think of something and fast. The bridge was coming up and she had no way of stopping Kong in time. She looked at her cards; maybe she could do something here. She normal summoned an Evolsaur Cerato and ended after setting one card.

Guars drew and ordered Kong to attack, but Nina activated a trap.

"Now I activate my Evolutionary Bridge, now I can redirect her attack to an Evoltile Special summoned from my grave. So I can special summon my Evoltile Gephyro. (200 ATK/ **400 DEF**)" Nina explained.

A dark blue reptile had appeared. Kong rushed forward and smashed the small reptile, sending electricity towards Nina, who swerved a bit on her Duel Runner. Guars was starting to argue about how Gephyro got in her Graveyard, yet he remembered her using Angel Baton earlier. She regained her balance and activated her monster's effect.

"Now I can special summon one Evolsaur monster from my grave. And I choose my Evolsaur Elias." Nina declared as the Pterodactyl was resurrected.

"And now I can special summon one Evolsaur Monster from my hand. I special summon my Evolsaur Terias! (**2400 ATK**/600 DEF)"

A Double Helix DNA swirl appeared in front of her again. This time, it formed into a green and black scaled like T-rex, which roared in pain as its arms were trying to stretch out for more length, but didn't quite make it.

"I end." Guars muttered. Nina drew and continued with her plan.

"Now I construct an overlay Network with my Evolsaur Terias and Evolsaur Elias."

The two monsters turned into Double Helix strands and started to cross over with each other. A bright light shown as a new monster was formed. It was a bright blue hue over its white flesh and it was very slim in comparison with the others in its group. It roared as it flew along, gracing the field with its presence.

"DNA synching complete! I XYZ summon my Evolkaiser Solda! (**2600 ATK**/1000 DEF)"

Solda roared in triumph. Guars looked at it with laughter.

"So what?! An overgrown lizard-"

"Dragon."

"Whatever! Do you honestly think that that stupid dinosaur with wings is going to enough to stand up against my Beast King?!" He boasted. Nina took two cards from her wrist dealer and placed it onto the field. Guars looked in surprise, before a giant explosion caused Beast King to shield itself. This resulted in sparks flying from the suit of armor and the Beast King roared in pain, before falling and dispersing into pixels, defeated.

"I activated the effect of my Speed Spell- Explosion. By destroying one of my cards, I can change the battle position of all monsters on your side of the field. Beast King can only survive being changed into Defense Mode went it happens through its own effect." Nina explained. By now Guars was steaming in rage. Nina took it as a sign, and proceeded to attack. "Go, Evolkaiser Solda; finish this with DNA Overload."

Solda nodded, before rising up and charging a blast from its mouth, drawing in its white aura as an energy source. It then fired, sending a blinding light blue Double Helix beam heading towards Guars. It struck him dead on, temporarily blinding the charging Centaur.

**(Nina: 4500) (Nina SPC: 2) (Guars: 0) (Guars SPC: 2)**

Nina was about to stop her Duel Runner, when she noticed that Guars wasn't stopping. The ending attack of Evolkaiser Solda had blinded him. He was going on pure instinct now. Nina was panicking. '_What am I going to do?! If he continues, then he'll detonate the bomb! Gotta think fast. Quickly! Okay, he's a centaur. In Mythology, he's part horse…wait, that's it!_'

Nina drove right next to Guars; she did the most insane thing.

She jumped onto him.

Nina managed to clamp onto Guars, somehow managing to hold on to the rampaging Shadow at 50 MPH. She climbed on, and remembered when she went horse riding for her birthday. She didn't learn much, yet one thing remained in her head. And that was how to stop a horse.

Nina did as she remembered, and Guars responded almost like an actual horse, and soon he was starting to slow down. His galloping slowed down, and soon to a halt. Nina's heart froze for a moment, and then she sighed in relief. Just a few more meters, and the trigger would activate. She looked with glee, as her Duel Runner skid past and finally slowed down in front of her, crashing to the floor due to the momentum.

**0000000**

**Anime/Manga or Custom Created Cards.**

**Speed Spell- Explosion (Speed Spell Card)**

**Normal Speed Spell**

**Image**: A facedown card on the bottom, with a giant explosion occurring on top of it. Three monsters are being blown away by this blast.

**Effect:** Activate only while you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Select and destroy one other card inside your Spell & Trap Card Zone. Then, change all Battle Positions of all face-up monsters your opponent controls.

_Speed Spell- Explosion was used by Taro Yamashita in the Yugioh 5ds Episode 121,'The Miraculous Trump Card, Sleeping Giant Zushin!'. Credit for this card goes to the writers of that episode._

**Speed Spell- Accelerator Draw (Speed Spell Card)  
**

**Normal Speed Spell**

**Image: **A male blue coated Duelist drawing with such speed, that it causes a mach cone to form.

**Effect: **Activate only when you have 12 Speed Counters, and your opponent has only 5 or less Speed Counters. Draw two cards.

_Speed Spell- Accelerator Draw was used by Yusei Fudo in the Yugioh 5ds Episode 101,'The Edge of Elimination_'. _Credit for this card goes to the writers of that episode._

**Speed Spell- Sonic Empathy (Speed Spell Card)  
**

**Normal Speed Spell**

**Image: **Two Duel Runners riding side by side. Their runners are emitting a colored sonic wave, one blue and the other red. The two intertwined, forming a green soundwave.

**Effect: **Activate only when you and your opponent has the same amount of Speed Counters and the combined total of Speed Counters is not greater than ten. Both of you draw cards equal to the amount of Speed Counters you possess when this card was activated. You can only activate one Speed Spell- Sonic Empathy once a turn.

**De-Evolution (Trap Card)  
**

**Normal Trap**

**Image:** Evolkaiser Lagia is shown in the background. The bottom of its is starting to transform into two DNA strands, which then reconfigure into Evolsaur Cerato and Evolsaur Diplo.

**Effect: **Select one face up XYZ 'Evol' monster on your field; if the monsters that were used as XYZ material are in the Graveyard, tribute the selected monster and Special Summon the two monsters from the Graveyard. You cannot XYZ Summon a monster with the same rank for the rest of the turn. You can only activate one De-Evolution per turn.

**Supreme Beast King: Kong (Monster Card)  
**

**CARD SPECS**

**Type:** Beast/XYZ/Effect  
**Attribute:**Earth  
**Rank: **7  
**ATK:** 3000  
**DEF:** 2000

**Card Description:** 2 Level 7 Beast type Monsters

If this card is in face-up Defense Position, destroy this monster. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card has destroyed a monster: detach one XYZ material from this card. If not, change this card into face-up Defense Position. When this card attacks a Defense Position monster: the difference between this card's Attack Points and the defending monster's Defense Points, is dealt to your opponent as damage. There can only be one face-up Supreme Beast King: Kong on the field.

_The above three cards were created by me. However, the Supreme Beast King: Kong card can only be used by the members of The Hands of Shadow, specifically ones that use Beast Types. If used, credit goes to me._

**0000000**

**Well, I did it. I finally became a Shadowchaser. I don't care what anyone said, riding and stopping a rampaging Centaur will always be the highlight on my career. Not many people can say that and live, you know. My Rite of Passage has been completed. **

**After my Initiation, Jalal and the group I was training with celebrated. I had gained my mark and also my own copy of the Dragonborn Jalal card. The card felt like it was my badge of honor. As long as that card is in my deck, I will try my hardest to do my best.  
**

**I settled down and finally had a few days with the group I was with. I thought I was going to stay with them for most of my life. But then I heard that a certain town far North was lacking support and I was the only one that was ready and raring to go. That meant only one thing.**

**Roadtrip!**

**0000000**

**Nina finally completes her Rite of Passage, but just because she solved one Crisis by herself, doesn't mean she's as good as the ones before. She experiences firsthand what an already installed Shadowchaser is capable of! Find out next time in "Recycling Batteries".**


	2. Recycling Batteries

_Disclaimer: This is not a fan fiction made for profit. I do not own Yugioh or Shadowchasers. They belong to their respective owners. The only thing I own is my OCs and Veena City itself._

_**0000000**_

**After defeating that Centaur in San Francisco, I was outsourced to Veena City. **

**Have you heard of Veena City? If you've said no, I wouldn't blame you. I don't even know it existed until now. It was a quiet little city in terms of trouble, which no one really paid attention to. Not really much crime or anything of the sort. It was the perfect town for those seeking solace in this crime ridden world.**

**This was perfect for Shadows with evil intentions to gain some free territory. The place was leaked around the undergrounds of crime and now many Shadows are migrating there. While some may have good intentions, it was too unnatural for just a giant influx to enter one town at relatively the same time. Therefore, Jalal decided to place me to the city to assist the three Shadowchasers that were already there. **

**I only heard one thing from one of the members of the group in San Francisco. I heard that the group was extremely powerful and that if I needed to be moved there, then its something that even they couldn't handle. So I have a big responsibility on my hands.  
**

**This should be fun.**

******0000000**

Veena City wasn't the biggest city off them all. But it wasn't that small either; the shopping district or the 'city' part of the town mainly consisted of two to three story malls, unlike some cities nowadays which had 7 stories. Surrounding the city area, which was a giant circle, were the residential areas which encased the city area like a bigger circle.

However, inside the center of the city there was a living area, called the Argent district- where the rich and wealthy live- there is a Penthouse. This Penthouse, is the Veena City Shadowchaser's headquarters. This branch of the Shadowchasers organization, the 'de facto' team leader/representative of the group is Wyatt.

Wyatt is just a normal Aware. He was an orphan (a raging Ogre attack on a family would do that to someone) when he was five and was raised by a two Elven parents. He met with the Shadowchasers and passed his test. He was then transferred to Veena city and became leader soon after. Some who known this group often question why he was the leader. He was a bit of an airhead and can't be bothered at times. Despite that, he is regarded as a good leader by the organization.

Inside said Penthouse, Wyatt woke up from his bed with a yawn. His deep blue hair was frizzed out and his eyes were plagued with sleep. He groggily wiped sleep from his eyes as he went outside his room. Walking into the kitchen, he opened the fridge and opened a carton of Orange Juice. He took a glass from the cupboard and poured the juice into it, not paying attention to the person sneaking behind him.

"…You shouldn't drink Orange Juice before breakfast…" She whispered.

Wyatt turned around in shock, knocking the glass over in surprise. The glass shattered and juice spilt over his feet. The person behind him, a strikingly beautiful girl with snow white hair, just glanced down and looked back up. She shook her head. The house was silent. Then the glass fragments started to reassemble and floated up to the counter. Soon the glass was perfect on the counter, like if it was never broken.

"…You really need to be careful sometimes…the house can't always clean itself…"

Wyatt rubbed his head. Normally, a Shadowchaser's base had a housekeeper inside to cook meals and to take care of the house while they were working. However, the Veena City Shadowchasers didn't have a cleaner, mainly because they couldn't find one. However, a friend of theirs, proficient in Practical Magical Constructs and Enchantments, had tested a spell that caused the house to have an invisible construct and to become self sufficient. Since then, they didn't need a Housekeeper, the House took care of itself through levitation and Manipulation, making their food, changing the sheets and the like.

The teen sighed.

"Maybe if you stop sneaking up on me, then maybe I would stop breaking glass." He replied sarcastically.

"…Sarcasm doesn't suit you Wyatt…Maybe you should just train on detecting people behind you instead…"

He sighed in defeat. He knew he could never win when she gets in that mood, unless you want to lose the argument. She always seemed to have all the cards in her hand and had an answer to everything.

Coralline was a Shadow-Touched Nymph, meaning she was relatively beautiful being born from one Human parent and one Nymph parent. Her mother had disappeared and she was forced to life with her father for the past few years. It wasn't the best of relationships. She was found by the organization, sitting on a hog-tied Orc(somehow) and reading a book. After a while she joined the Shadowchasers and easily passed her test. She always had this depressing mood about her ever since he met her. Wyatt hung his head low and gave up.

"Whatever floats your boat, Coralline."

"…Buoyancy…" The girl replied in a deadpan tone.

"Sorry to interrupt this little argument."

Both of the teens stop talking and looked at the fire place. They walked over to it and sat down. The fire place somehow projected a hologram of a man with long golden hair. He wore an expensive Italian business suit and had an air of authority around him. He was Jalal, leader of the Shadowchasers. Coralline looked at him.

"…The argument was over before it even started, Jalal…" She responded.

"Of course it was." Wyatt responded.

"Anyway, I have some news for you all." Jalal said as he looked around. He noticed that one person was missing. "Where's Clyde?" He asked.

"He's still sleeping in his room, as usual. He won't wake up for a while now." Wyatt answered.

Clyde Mascoll was the last member of the trio. He prefers to be called Hunter, because he duels like if he was hunting and trapping his prey. He came from 'Satisfaction Town' when it was known as Crash Town. He's the group's expert Technology Expert and is very adept in hacking any database on Earth and Duel Runner mechanics. Jalal sighed and continued.

"No matter. I have outsourced a recently installed Shadowchaser to Veena City. I would like for one of you to help her to the penthouse and to show her around town. She should arrive around nightfall or so." Jalal explained. He looked at Wyatt, and then Coralline. The latter looked at Wyatt.

"…Since you are going on Patrol later tonight, you are the optimal person to retrieve our new accomplice…" Coralline said as she opened a book and started reading. It was '_The Seven Dials Mystery_' by Agatha Christie. Wyatt shivered at the book. When one looks at Coralline reading, especially when it relates to murder, one cannot help but feel a cold shiver in the air. But it was just a psychological kind of thing. Wyatt straightened his back and responded.

"How come you can't go? Maybe seeing a female face my help her ease into things?" He asked sheepishly. He instantly backed down as Coralline calmly looked over to him with her seemingly pupil-less midnight blue eyes.

"…Wyatt, would you like me to list all 13 reasons as to why it is economically and socially beneficial to our group as to why you should be the one going…" She said with a calm and almost nonchalant tone. Wyatt sighed in defeat and slumped back. He knew he wouldn't win against Coralline. No one did in the history of- ever.

"…Okay, I'll go." He said.

"Excellent." Jalal said before he ended the meeting. Wyatt slouched back in his seat as he ran his hand through his blue hair. He looked over at Coralline, who was still reading her book and was onto the second chapter already.

"I hate it when you're right."

"…Which is all of the time…" She replied.

**0000000**

Nina drove into the inner part of the Southern Residential District. She had driven from San Francisco into Veena City, which was a lot of distance to travel. It was nightfall when Nina had arrived, and she had stopped at the local diner to grab something to eat and to stretch her legs. She quickly ran into the diner and jogged back out, then in again. After receiving weird looks, she sat at one of the tables.

"What would you like to eat, sweetie?" A waitress asked as she walked over to her table. Nina pondered for a while until she made a decision.

"_One coffee with milk and a Cheeseburger, please?_" She replied in rapid Spanish, too mentally tired to translate it into English. The waitress scratched her until Nina realized that the woman didn't understand Spanish as fast as she had spoken it. She slowed down her speech and translated in a dull and 'it was so OBVIOUS' voice.

"Oh, right away Sweetie. And by the way, don't jog randomly in the restaurant. It makes you look kooky." She whispered the last part before bellowing the order at the chef. She smiled at Nina before taking another person's order.

Nina looked at the map of Veena City she had in her hands, it had shown a giant circle, split into four sections, and an outer circle. She was in the outer circle, which was nicknamed 'Outer Circle'. She looked around at the Diner, which wasn't shabby and was fairly hygienic, until she spotted a peculiar person walking through the door. He had electric blue hair and had a calm expression on his face, walking towards a table and sitting down. He wore a certain mark, similar to a criminal mark used in New Domino city, on his face. Nina quickly recognized the mark and got up, only to be interrupted by a shouting voice.

"What's the big idea, bub?! Trying to trip me?!" The voice shouted. Nina looked over to the bar of the diner, where a giant muscular man was standing. He had long blonde hair underneath a baseball cap, complete with a jacket and jeans. He seemed like an ordinary trucker. Nina first thought it was a Shadow, but she found out he was just a giant human.

"I'm sorry." The janitor spoke softly. He was a midget, and had wrinkles of age on his face. He had short and curly brown hair and appeared to be very feeble. Most Mundane viewers would see a small man, but Aware and Nina saw a Brownie.

"Sorry! Sorry's not gonna get my food of that floor, boy!" The man shouted at him. Nina spotted a plate with a few Chili Cheese Dogs and a Burger splashed on the floor. She also saw the Brownie had a mop in his hand. She put two and two together, and got up and started to walked over to the man.

"Please don't shout." The brownie replied.

"SHOUTING!" The man raised his voice until he started bellowing. "I'M NOT EVEN SHOUTING YET BOY!"

The brownie cowered in fear. Nina stepped closer, preparing to stop a scuffle.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT FOOD COST ME, BOY?!" He shouted. The brownie didn't respond. "ANSWER ME!"

After a while of getting no response, the Man scowled and drew back his hand for a punch. Nina tried to step in, but someone had beaten her to it. The blue haired shadowchaser had grabbed the man's hand and bent it into a chicken wing and pinned him to the floor.

"Alright, that's enough of that." He said calmly as he reaffirmed his grip onto the man. "Why don't you leave the poor man alone? He's just doing his job."

"Get off of me!" The man bellowed from beneath. "I'll kill him!"

"Over my dead body!" The teen responded.

"Heh," The man scoffed. "You wanna tussle with me, pretty boy?!"

"Trust me pal, I'm not a guy you wanna fight with One on One." The teen replied. "Besides, I don't want to make your already ugly face uglier with blood."

"Oi!" The cook/owner shouted from the kitchen. "No fighting in here, or I'll call the Cops! If you wanna fight, do it in a non-violent way."

Wyatt rose off of the man, allowing him to dust himself off. He eyed the deck slot on the man's belt. He stood between the brownie and the man, making sure that the guy did no cheap shots. He met the man's glare with a fury of his own.

"What's your name?" The teen asked.

"Gil." The man spat at the teen.

"Well, Gil, here's an offer. I see you're a duelist. If you duel me and win, you can beat this guy to your heart's content. But if I win, you must never come back here again." He wagered. Gil smiled and tipped his hat. He grabbed his deck and went to pick up a Duel Disk from the chair he was sitting in. He got himself ready as he went outside. The teen followed, taking that as a yes. The whole diner went outside to look at the duel.

The Shadowchaser and Gil stood ten paces away from each other. The former placed his deck into a Duel Disk he was carrying, which was a normal one just like Nina's. His automatic shuffling feature turned on as he looked over to his opponent.

"By the way, name's Wyatt." The teen introduced himself.

"Not gonna matter after my beat you with my powerful deck. Get ready to lose, cause I'm not gonna."

"DUEL!"

**(Wyatt: 8000) (Gil: 8000)**

After drawing five cards, Wyatt started to draw, but Gil snapped a card from his deck slot and declared himself going first. Wyatt just begrudgingly complied. Gil placed on card onto the spell card slot. A peculiarly old card had materialized onto the field.

"I activate the Spell Card, Hand Destruction. We have to give two cards to draw two cards." They did just that after little thought. He then set one card and a monster facedown and ended his turn. Wyatt silently drew and studied the field until he found a way.

"I normal summon Rai Mei in attack mode. (**1400 ATK**/1200 DEF)"

A beautiful young woman materialized on the field. She had a lighting motif on her pink spandex costume and had electric blue hair and green eyes. Electricity sparked, as she landed gracefully on the field and looked ready to bash some skulls together.

"That's a cute girlie you've got there. But under all that lightning, that just a tiny weak girl."Gil stated. Nina felt a tinge of hatred for Gil already.

Wyatt ignored the comment and proceeded to attack the facedown monster. The card itself revealed a small golden frog with black stripes on its body. It had wings on its sides and had a little bandage on the underside of its mouth. (100 ATK/ **100 DEF**) It burst into little pixels as Wyatt analyzed his deck.

'_A Treeborn Frog. That means you might be running a frog deck, or could be setting up for a five or six star tribute. In that case it may be a simple tribute summon and beatdown deck._' Wyatt analyzed as he chuckled to himself. "A big strong man like you relying on a small frog is pretty funny."

"Shut up!" Gil bellowed as he pressed a button on his Disk. The facedown card revealed itself and Wyatt stopped chuckling. Gil smirked as he puffed out his chest in a false bravado.

"By destroying my Treeborn Frog, you activate my trap card Michizure, which allows me to destroy one of your monsters when one of mine bites th…"

"I know the card effect." Wyatt interrupted as he analyzed the field. "That was a good plan too. Allow me to destroy one your self reviving cards and activate the trap that can destroy my only monster defense and clear your backfield, allowing Treeborn's effect to activate the next turn and summoning one 1 tribute monster and attacking me for massive damage."

"Uh…" Gil didn't know how to respond to that.

Wyatt shrugged it off and decided to activate a spell know as One Day of Peace. "This card let's us both draw a card and neither player takes damage until the end of your next turn" He explained. They both drew. Wyatt then placed two facedown cards as they materialized on the field. He then passed it onto Gil.

"About time!" Gil shouted as he drew a card. He then regained Treeborn Frog as it descended from the heavens. He then took one card from his hand and placed it onto his Duel Disk.

"I activate Hand Destruction. Now we give up two cards to draw two cards."

Wyatt did as instructed after some careful thought. Gil did his half quickly and they both drew. Gil then placed one card into his graveyard slot.

"By giving up one WATER monster in my hand, I can special summon my Swap Frog in Defense Mode. (1000 ATK/ **500 DEF**)"

A small yellow frog with orange like designs on its skin and two mini horns on its head hopped onto the field. It then grabbed one card from Gil's Duel Disk and placed it into his graveyard, with a reassuring croak to show it worked.

"When my Swap Frog is summoned, I can send one Level 2 or lower WATER monster to the grave. Now I activate the effect of my Ronintoadin from the grave. I can remove from play one Frog Monster in my grave in order to special summon him. And guess what, I have two! (**100 ATK**/ 2000 DEF) x2"

Two frogs appeared on the field. They both had blue skin with red markings on it. They each carried a tiny sword in a sheath made of Bamboo and they had a wheat grain in their mouths. They drew their swords and took a stance. Gil pocketed two cards which slipped out of his graveyard.

"Yup, it's a frog deck." Wyatt muttered to himself.

"So you've found out my deck. So what? You're still going to lose." Gil said as he proceed with his turn. "I tribute my Treeborn Frog in order to tribute summon my Ace. I summon my Sea Lancer in Attack Mode! (**1300 ATK**/ 1000 DEF)"

Treeborn fell to the ground as another monster took its place. A giant merman appeared from the ground, which was like water, and held a golden trident. His scales were blue and unlike a mermaid he had no human top half. He scowled at Wyatt.

"For your deck's boss, he seems a little, underwhelming. Um, what does he do again?" Wyatt asked dumfounded. Gil looked in shock.

"Have you not heard about Lancer Frogs?!"

"Can't say I have. Why, should I?"

Gil turned around to the audience.

"Has anybody ever heard of Lancer Frogs?!"

The audience remained stunned, unable to answer. Gil gnashed his teeth in anger. "You're just like everyone else. You only pay attention to the popular decks like Lightsworns or Blackwings. Well I'll show you that Lancer Frogs are the next big thing."

"Yeah yeah, you're deck is the greatest thing since the King of Games'," Wyatt batted off nonchalantly. "heard it before. So what does your boss do?"

"The greatest effect in history! I can equip to him any number of removed from play AQUA monsters to him. And guess what type my frogs are."

"Reptiles?" Wyatt asked. Gil face palmed.

"No boy! There Amphibian but in this game, their type is AQUA." Gil explained as Lancer raised his trident. Two lightning bolts struck the trident like it was a lightning rod. Lancer glowed before it raised its trident menacingly towards Wyatt's field. Gil then took two of his cards on the field.

"I can now construct an Overlay Network with my two Level 2 Ronintoadins!"

The two frog warriors sheathed their swords and gave a respectful bow to Gil, before transforming into two orbs of energy. They flew into a giant orange portal that came from the ground. A giant steel- um- giant came from the portal and stood with its arms outstretched. Two orbs floated around it.

"I XYZ Summon my Gachi Gachi Gantestu in Attack Mode. (**500 ATK**/ 1800 DEF) And now its effect activates! As long as it has XYZ Materials, all monsters gain a 200 Attack point boost for each material it has. And then my Lancer effect activates. For every equip card he gained from his effect, he gains 500 points."

The aura from Gachi Gachi Gantestu (**900 ATK**/ 2200 DEF) went over to Sea Lancer and empowered it, giving him even more power. (**2700 ATK**/ 1400 DEF) Wyatt looked at it with acknowledgement. It wasn't as underwhelming as he thought. Gil went to attack, but the monsters did move one bit, since the effect of One Day of Peace was still active during his battle phase. Gil muttered something under his breath and set a card. Wyatt drew and proceeded to activate a trap.

"I activate the Trap Card, Wattcannon! With this, for once a turn when a THUNDER type monster is summoned, you are dealt 600 points of damage. Now I normal summon my Wattpheasant in Attack Mode. (**1000 ATK**/ 800 DEF)"

A giant toy cannon rose in the back row of Wyatt's field. Tiny electric sparks came from it. Then a relatively small blue bird with a yellow highlight color scheme on its wings flew onto the field. It had tiny cute lightning bolts coming from its feathers and its tail alternated between black and yellow. It was a very cute monster.

'_For a monster with low attack points, it doesn't seem like a smart choice. What could it do?_' Nina wondered.

"Look at that. Wyatt's using a Watt deck. Hey, Watt's up Wyatt." Gil laughed mockingly as Wyatt glared at him. He pointed at Wattcannon and it charged up. It released a giant beam of electricity, which struck Gil head on. The latter reeled in surprise at the sudden attack. Wyatt smiled.

**(Wyatt: 8000) (Gil: 7400)**

"Who's laughing now, frog boy?" Wyatt mocked as Gil scowled and glared. Wyatt ignored him and pointed at Gil.

"Now almost all Watt cards have a special effect. And this one is no exception! For the battle phase, this card can attack directly. But before I do, I activate the effect of my continuous spell card known as Solidarity. Since all of the monsters I have in my grave are only of one type, I can raise the Attack Points of my monsters with the same type by 800." He explained.

"Wait...what?"

"In layman's terms, your getting hit, hard."

Electricity flew from Wyatt's face up card and into Wattpheasant. It chirped in pleasure as it flew towards Gil. It suddenly turned into a giant lightning bolt and headed straight towards Gil. It struck him in the chest, causing the man to yelp in surprise. It then returned to Wyatt's side and started to spark electricity from its wings. It then flew towards Sea Lancer and landed on it. It then zoomed off into the then forming dark clouds. It returned in a lightning flash, without Lancer.

**(Wyatt: 8000) (Gil: 5600)**

"What happened to Lancer?!" Gil shouted.

"When my Wattpheasant attacks directly and deals damage, I can select one of my opponent's monsters and remove it from play until the end of this turn. By doing so, I've removed your equip monsters, making Lancer an easier target to attack when he comes back."

A hole in space ripped from behind Wattpheasant, causing it to slip into another Dimension. Wyatt looked with a bit of shock. He looked over at Gil, who pointed at the face-up trap card on his side of the field.

"Except that wasn't the smartest move, Einstein. I chain my Trap card, Dragged into the Different Dimension!" Gil exclaimed. Wyatt looked confused. "When a card effect activates from you when a monster on my side of the field would be removed, before it resolves, I can remove from play one monster on your side of the field. So I choose your Wattpheasant!"

Gil smirked as he pointed to his graveyard. "Now When my equip monsters are sent to the graveyard, they activate their effects."

Wyatt mentally face palmed himself. That wasn't a smart move from him, he fell right into Gil's trap.

Gil smirked as he drew one card and then searched his deck for a Frog monster due to the effects of the equip cards sent to the Graveyard, Poison Draw Frog and Dupe Frog. Wyatt set a card and ended his turn, thunder sounded as Lancer returned in a flash. Visibly weaker than before. (**1700 ATK**/ 1400 DEF)

Gil drew and due to the fact he had a facedown, he couldn't activate the effect of Treeborn Frog. He then activated the effect of another Swap Frog in his hand, sending two more cards to the grave. A ghostly woman made of a blue ethereal energy came and took five cards from him, removing Poison Draw Frog, Dupe Frog, Beelze Frog and another Poison Draw and Treeborn Frog from play.

"I activate Soul Release, removing five of my cards from play. Then I activate Lancer's effect." Lancer raised his trident to the sky, adding all of the Frogs except Treeborn to his Lancer, four lightning bolts struck him. He glowed with power, greater than before. (**3700 ATK**/ 1400 DEF)

"I now activate the effect of my Field Spell, Wetlands. Now every Level 2 or Lower Aqua monster gains 1200 Attack Points. So that means…"

The surrounding area of bland desert was covered in a small grass. A light drizzle came from the heavens and a few pools of water arose from the ground. A raining marshland had formed, as the Swap Frogs croaked in chorus with pleasure. (**2600 ATK**/ 900 DEF)

"It's official." Wyatt muttered. "This deck is broken."

"Now fear my frogs. I attack with all my creatures! Go!"

A Swap Frog lashed out its tongue as struck Wyatt in his stomach. He reeled forward as he felt the holograph slightly hurt him.

**(Wyatt: 5400) (Gil: 5600)**

The next Swap Frog did the same.

**(Wyatt: 2800) (Gil: 5600)**

Then came the moment of truth. Lancer rushed forward at Wyatt menacingly as it raised its trident at his chest. Nina watched, almost shocked at it ended in one turn. A One Turn Kill is rare to see. She wanted to turn away, but something was telling her to keep watching. Lancer had neared Wyatt preparing to virtually impaled the teen.

Wyatt smirked before he pressed a button on his Duel Disk.

"There! The end!" Gil said. He was certain that there was no card that could stop him. But to his surprise, Wyatt started up as a card raised over on his side of the field.

"I activate the effect of the Quick Play Spell, Half Shut! Now your Lancer cannot be destroyed by Battle, but its Attack Score is halved for the rest of the turn!"

A giant aura of blue had faltered Lancer's grip on his trident, (**1850 ATK**) but he still had pierced Wyatt, causing him considerable damage. He smirked at how angry Gil was getting at him stopping his One Turn Kill. Gil literally was seething with rage, yet was too flustered to respond.

**(Wyatt: 1050) (Gil: 5600)**

He then stopped his Battle Phase and switched Gachi Gachi to Defense Mode and ended his turn. Wyatt drew and thought calmly about the situation.

"I normal summon my Wattgiraffe in Attack Mode. (**1200 ATK**/ 100 DEF)"

A cute miniature yellow giraffe appeared in a flash of lightning. It had red-orange like scales on its body and red spikes on its neck. He had two light bulbs on his ears and little cute sparks were emanating from them. Many of the audience cooed at the monster. Nina just wondered what effect this one had. The electricity from Solidarity struck Wattgiraffe and its Lightning bulbs started to become overpowered and brighter. (**2000 ATK**/ 100 DEF) The Wattcannon had charged again and shot at Gil, damaging him for another 600 ATK.

**(Wyatt: 1050) (Gil: 5000)**

"I now activate the effect of my Continuous Spell, Wattcine. But I will get to that later. Now Wattgiraffe has the same direct attacking effect as Pheasant. Now attack Gil directly."

Wattgiraffe outstretched his long neck and struck Gil with it, causing him to recoil and flinch from the almost real sparks.

**(Wyatt: 1050) (Gil: 3000)**

"I got in more bar fights than at any Irish pub, faced someone with a gun and won barehanded and faced a fifth degree black belt in three different martial arts and won. So how is it that I'm being beaten and scared by a giraffe?!" Gil asked exasperated.

"Funny how life works." Wyatt responded. "And this will be hilarious. Since I attacked directly and dealt damage, I not only gain lifepoints equal to the amount of damage dealt to you from my Wattcine, you can't activate the effect of any Spell, Monster or Traps card due to the effect of my giraffe." Wyatt chuckled. "Again, Funny how life works."

The overflowing electricity from Wattgiraffe was siphoned off into a glowing ball of blue light. Gil growled as Wyatt's lifepoints increased.

**(Wyatt: 3050) (Gil: 3000)**

Nina looked impressed. Wyatt had just lost nearly all of his 8000 lifepoints in one turn, managed to stop an OTK and not only dealt significant damage to his opponent but also healed himself and surpassed his opponent's lifepoints, while also locking off their Card Effects for the rest of the turn in the process. He seemed to be an excellent duelist, despite his airhead moments. Nina looked at her Duel Disk. She wondered if she will ever be that good.

"I set one card and end my turn there." Wyatt ended.

Gil furiously drew, and the Dragged into the Different Dimension card shattered. Wyatt looked at Wattpheasant returned to his hand, as well as Treeborn Frog returned to Gil's hand.

Gil ignored that and ordered Lancer to attack. Lancer raised his trident and aimed at Wattgiraffe. But three robed women carrying sacramental candles had appeared in front of it and a holy barrier mad of blue energy protected them from the attack. Gil was furious that his attack was negated by Waboku. He quickly ended his turn.

"I draw." Wyatt said as he analyzed the field. He ordered Wattgiraffe to attack directly again as the cute giraffe reached over with its long neck and struck Gil. The extra energy was siphoned off into Wattcine.

**(Wyatt: 5050) (Gil: 1000)**

"Looks like I made a reversal. I end my turn with one facedown." Wyatt said as another card materialized.

Gil drew and suddenly blessed the gods, if they were any, for his fortune. He finally had an opening.

"Okay, I construct another Overlay Network with my two Level 2 Swap Frogs. I Exceed Summon another Gachi Gachi Gantestu in Attack Mode."

The two frogs morphed into orbs and flew into a giant orange portal. Another Gachi Gachi rose from it and took a stance.(**1300 ATK**/ 2600 DEF) The aura from it intertwined with the first one( 1300 ATK/ **2600 DEF**) and it overpowered Lancer. (**4100 ATK**/ 1800 DEF)

"I switch my first Gachi Gachi to Attack Mode and attack you with Lancer. Go, Thunderkiller!"

Ironically, Lancer raised his trident and a giant lightning bolt came from it and struck Wattgiraffe, smashing it into millions of pixels. Gil smiled as it exploded.

**(Wyatt:3050) (Gil: 1000)**

The two Gachi Gachis rushed forward and literally pulverize Wyatt. He managed to not fall to his knees from how real that felt.

**(Wyatt: 350) (Gil: 1000)**

'_Come on. You can do it, Wyatt!_' Nina mentally encouraged.

"What can you do, boy?! HUH?!" Gil mocked as Wyatt drew his card. He seemed to be disappointed. Gil looked in glee. "Who's got a bad poker face? You do! Looks like I'm gonna win!"

"No. I hadn't drawn the wrong card. I just wish it would be, you know, less Anti-climatic. I normal summon Wattwoodpecker in Attack Mode. (**1000 ATK**/ 100 DEF)"

A relatively small bird entered the field. It had a black body with red highlights and two thunderbolts on its chest. It had red feathers and black feathers. For a bird its size, it had a very big beak. Electricity was coming from its beak as it pecked the ground.

A lightning bolt from Solidarity had empowered it. (**1800 ATK**/ 100 DEF)

"And that's supposed to defeat me?! HA!" Gil laughed. He then got worried. "Um, what does it do?"

"Oh nothing. Except it can attack twice per turn." Wyatt explained.

"That can't defeat my Lancer!" Gil scoffed. Wyatt pointed at something and after a while Gil's eyes widened. His two Gachi Gachis were in Attack Mode. He started to sweat a little bit.

"Um, look pal. No hard feelings, right?"

"Wow," Wyatt said with a shake of his head. "You are truly a classic example of a bully. I attack both of your Gachi Gachis with my Wattwoodpecker!"

Woodpecker's beak grew exponentially as it rose in the air. It brought it down, smashing into the two Gachi Gachis, sparks flying everywhere. Those same sparks caused damage to Gil, as he fell down to the floor in shock.

**(Wyatt: 350) (Gil: 0)**

Wyatt sighed as he went over to the fallen man, who was crying on the floor. Gil looked up with his red eyes from crying so much. Wyatt stooped down and whispered in his ear.

"Don't come back."

Gil nodded as he quickly got up and rushed towards his truck and stumbled to get the door opened. Feeling twenty pairs of eyes on him, he busted open the door and climbed into the driving seat and floored it until he hit into a person's mailbox. He kept going as he soon went out of sight, out of the Outer Circle and into the wild.

Nina walked over to Wyatt, who was talking to the small Brownie.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"No need for thanks, just doing my job."

The Brownie nodded as he soon went off to wherever he lives. Nina tapped Wyatt on the shoulder and turned him around.

"Hey. That was a great duel you had back there. You're an excellent duelist." She complimented. Wyatt shrugged and turned off his Duel Disk.

"Thank you…?"

"Nina."

Wyatt looked back at her in surprise. He analyzed her and found a similar mark on her cheek that he has on his. Latino, young and a mark, it had to be her. He then asked her in an exasperated tone:

"Wait, you're Nina? Nina Suarez from San Francisco Shadowchasers department, that Nina Suarez?"

Nina looked at him funny, but then remembered about his mark. She then smiled and winked at him.

"Yes. It's me in the flesh."

"Oh a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm- as you know- Wyatt and I am your guide to the Penthouse. Of course you've seen me duel. If you could, could you let me ride your Duel Runner, since I walked here and it would be easier to-" He asked but Nina interrupted him by nodded.

"Go for it."

Wyatt walked over to the Red Runner and started its engines. It whined in response as it started up and Wyatt drove a few circles in order to get a feel for it. He was about to go off when Nina suddenly remembered something important. Rushing back inside the diner, she said some words and a few minutes later, she came out with a coffee cup and a bag. She sat behind him and held the food and drink tightly.

"Almost forgot my food." She answer Wyatt's unasked question. He nodded and drove off to the Penthouse.

**0000000**

When they had arrived, Nina was awestruck at house beautiful the Penthouse was. Stylishly polished wooden floors, nice expensive like furniture and a fireplace, and a moderately sized kitchen that was cleaned. She knew that every Shadowchasers base was a Penthouse and they all were beautiful, but still this was breathtaking. And it was home for the rest of her career as a Shadowchaser.

"Now that we're here. I want to meet a few people."

Nina looked over and nearly missed a white haired girl sitting in the chair finishing '_The Seven Dials Mystery_' by Agatha Christie. She calmly closed the book as she looked at Wyatt. She was fairly beautiful and no part of her was blemished. She was around Nina's height and had blue midnight eyes and seemed to have no visible pupil. The girl placed down the book and looked at Nina.

"Coralline, this is Nina. Nina, Coralline." Wyatt introduced the girl in front of her.

"…Welcome Nina Suarez…" She greeted eerily as she walked over to Wyatt.

"_Um, hi...? How are you?"_ Nina asked. When she gets scared, angry or sometimes conflicted with emotions, she slips into her native tongue. Almost surprisingly, Coralline responded in perfect Spanish.

"…_Very well, thank you_… But I would prefer you to speak English, _please_…" She asked.

"_I'm sorry_- I mean, sorry."

"Who do we have here?!"

All three of them turned to the stairwell, where a man sat. He had short chestnut brown hair and had a fair amount of stubble for a beard, not too much but not too little. He wore a white t-shirt and a brown jacket with brown pant and hiking boots. Nina noticed a gun holster on his right side. He was fairly muscular and had green eyes. He got up and walked over to Nina and eyed her.

"Wyatt, you dog! Bringing a lady home, you've really one-upped yourself." He commented as Nina looked in shock. "Although she seems a little young for your age. But whatever. Hello there little miss, my name's Hunter. Pleasure to meet ya."

Nina cautiously shook his hand, then he went over to Wyatt. They whispered for a few moments until he nodded and walked back to Nina.

"Well, girlfriend…"

"I am NOT his girlfriend!" Nina shouted as she pouted.

"Really, you're pouting now?! Anyway, you're our new member, huh? What's your name?"

"Suarez. Nina Suarez."

Hunter looked at her for a while and then laughed. He patted Wyatt on the back as he stared in confusion.

"I like her style! Welcome to the team."

"I know I've already told you this at the diner but, welcome."

"…I don't need to repeat what I've already said…"

"Yes, welcome to the team."

They all looked at the fireplace, when Jalal's holograph appeared from it. He looked at them all.

"I see that you all have met Nina. She will be with you all indefinitely. As you may have already known, a recent influx of Shadows have entered Veena City. Realize that this means that things may never be easy again. Nina," Jalal said as he turned to her, "your personal belongings should already be here. Remember, Ignorance is not bliss but knowledge is not power."

He then signed off and Nina turned to the group. She seemed pretty excited.

"What should we do now?! Tell stories, go on patrol. I know, I know, let's go to the cinema! Huh?! I've been driving for hours and I am SO PUMPED UP! Come on, let's go!" She exclaimed. Wyatt looked at her funny.

"Nina, as fun as that sounds. Its midnight and we need to get some sleep. Besides, you'll see how sleepy you are when you see your bed." Wyatt said as he went up stairs to his bed. "Night!"

"Whelp! I have work to do. Sorry Nina. Maybe next time." Hunter said as he walked downstairs to his workshop.

Nina looked at Coralline with puppy dog eyes and tried to extract any sympathy from her, but she gave none. She calmly walked up stairs without making a sound and went to her bedroom door. She looked at Nina who had followed her.

"…Goodnight…" She whispered as she closed the door. Nina hung her head in defeat. She went to bed in defeat, falling to sleep in the process.

**0000000**

**Anime/Manga or Custom Created Cards.**

**Dragged into the Different Dimension (TRAP CARD)**

**Continuous Trap **

**Image: **D.D. Survivor is being sucked through a multiple rainbow colored like tear in reality. Before he is completely dragged in, he is pulling in a Manticore of Darkness, who is trying to resist by clawing into the ground.

**Effect: **Activate the effect of this trap only when an effect activated by your opponent activates where one of your monsters on your side of the field is removed from play. Target one monster of your opponent's side of the field: before that effect resolves, remove from play that monster. Destroy this card during your 2nd Stanby Phase after activation. When this card is destroyed, return one monster removed from play by this card's effect to it's owner's hand, then target one monster in your removed from play zone: Add that card to your hand. There can only be one face-up Dragged into the Different Dimension on the field.

_Dragged into the Different Dimension is a card of my own creation. Credits for this card go to me if used._

******0000000**

**Well, I've finally managed to make it to Veena City. I've met some pretty interesting people here. I've seen my fare share of eccentrics but this group somehow works together even though some of their personalities are different. **

**Wyatt seems to be pretty laid-back and a bit of an airhead. Hunter is pretty outgoing but seems like a bit of a night owl. But one person caught my interest the moment I saw them, and that was Coralline. She is a complete recluse and had this chilling effect about her. And she whispers everything and seems kinda frail. I know that Shadowchasers are trained and capable, but by looking at her, it makes you wonder. **

**I wonder what deck she could possibly be using.**

**Well little did I know that I would find that answer out the next day, and what a peculiar set of monsters it is.**

**0000000**

**Nina arrived and seen one Shadowchaser in action. Wyatt maybe a strong Duelist, but the others are not slouches either! Coralline's a cool customer, but how cool can she be when someone not only scares her for their species relation, but her personally.**

**Find out next time in "Spirited Away".**


End file.
